


Winter Prompt: Collared

by SilverBlaze85



Series: Collared [2]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, Slavery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-25
Updated: 2013-01-25
Packaged: 2017-11-26 23:07:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/655386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverBlaze85/pseuds/SilverBlaze85
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>THIS CONTAINS POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR "COLLARED". YOU'VE BEEN WARNED!!</p>
    </blockquote>





	Winter Prompt: Collared

**Author's Note:**

> THIS CONTAINS POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR "COLLARED". YOU'VE BEEN WARNED!!

_This is for_[](http://elwoodjake.livejournal.com/profile)[ **elwoodjake**](http://elwoodjake.livejournal.com/), _who asked for: Collared. The day Robert came into John's possession and was freed._ PLEASE NOTE: THIS CONTAINS POSSIBLE SPOILERS FOR "COLLARED". YOU'VE BEEN WARNED!!

*************************************

John was an idiot. No, really. His entire family was abolitionists, his friends too, and they had been stunned, and a little hurt, when he had fallen for Ms. Mary Winchester. All that he’d heard over his life, all the lectures on how owning another human was wrong, and how it was the right thing to free them all, hadn’t prepared him for a man older than himself to clutching a piece of paper, shaking in fear and anxiety, rather than the joy everyone had made the scene out to be.

He’d understood when he married the saucy Mary that he wasn’t likely to be able to do anything for the slaves the family owned. To be honest, he would rather have his wife curled up in his toddler’s bed for their afternoon nap, then to the ability to free people. But Mary was dead, and everything had been changed around, naming him responsible for a great deal, until Dean turned of age.

He was a glorified Regent, and his mother-on-law had made sure he’d known. Still, Robert was a good man, one that deserved his freedom for years of serving loyally, and he’d gotten his paperwork done first. Had laid Dean down for his nap, asked (never demanded, always asked) if Maria would keep an eye on him as she did her work, and summoned the older man up to his office. He had expected the stunned look when he handed over the paperwork showing, in long, legal details that Robert’s debt had been paid off on John’s behalf, and that he was now entirely free to do as he wished. And in simple words, on the last page of the stack: Debt of Robert L Singer paid in full by John C Winchester. New status: Freed.

He hadn’t expected the older man to furrow his brow and look up. “What’s all this mean?”

John leaned back in his chair. “It means, you’re free. Your debt is gone, and you’re no longer a slave.” John expected gratitude, thanks… Not Robert blinking rapidly and looking back down at his papers.

“But… What do I do?”

John shook his head. “Whatever you want, man. You’re free. You can go do whatever you want.”

Robert paled, clenching his papers. “You’re kicking me out? I’m sorry, whatever I did wrong, I promise I’ll fix it, I swear I will!”

John held up a hand, confused. “No, I’m not kicking you out, but you don’t have to stay here if you don’t want to.” How had this gone wrong? John sighed, rubbing his eyes roughly. “Okay, for right now? Why don’t you do me a favor, and go see what Nadia needs down in the kitchens, okay? I’m pretty sure the larders got hit hard, with all the visitors lately.”

None of this is what he planned, and he doesn’t realize he’s staring at the glossy wood until Mary’s maid leans against the doorframe, shaking her head. “Didn’t go the way you planned?” Allie is imprudent and young, just starting to blossom from girl to woman, and John likes her. She doesn’t watch her tongue, to Deanna’s annoyance, and doesn’t hesitate to speak her mind.

“You expected this.”

Allie snorts as she plops into the chair across from the desk. “Of course. John, most of us were born into slavery. Bobby doesn’t know anything else, nor do I. This is what we know, what we’re used to. You suddenly cut me loose? Yeah, I’m freaking out. Shouldn’t really surprise anyone.”

John’s a little lost, this reality being a lot different from what he’d expected. “But… don’t you want to be free?”

Allie actually laughs, tossing her blonde hair over a small shoulder. “Are you crazy? Us slaves have it good. We’re fed, we’re clothed and housed and treated. A good master like the Winchesters, we have it in the lap of luxury. Do our jobs well, and that’s the important thing. I wouldn’t have the first clue how to handle myself out there, trying to balance money against everything I’d need.” John’s starting to see something unfurl mistily, an idea blossoming, and suddenly, his plans abruptly change. Allie narrows her eyes, watching him. “What are you planning?”

He grins.

~~*^*~~

Bobby followed him meekly back to the hallway, nervous but calmer than earlier. “Sir?”

“I didn’t get the chance, earlier, to tell you something. See, I need to look at hiring someone… I need it to be a free man, who’s good and loyal and faithful. But he also needs to be really, really good at following orders,” John muses, leaning against the oaken door to Dean’s room. “Know anyone like that?”

Bobby frowned, eying him. “Sir, what’s this about?”

John cracked open the bedroom door, watching his son sleep quietly in the dim light, the last and most valuable thing in his world. “I need someone to guard him.” He met Bobby’s eyes. “A slave, well… he might get into trouble, if he used violence against someone who meant my son harm. A free man though, wouldn’t. Of course, this person would get paid, and I’d expect him to live with my family until Dean moved out on his own, at which time, he’d move in with Dean. See, this is a life-long contract. I need to make sure my son is safe, considering just how much he stands to inherit, now that Mary is gone.”

Realization starts to dawn in Bobby’s eyes. “And what if the young Master doesn’t want a guard?”

John smiled. “Well… that’s one reason I’m looking now. He wouldn’t think anything unusual about it, if he’d always had the same guard. And I’ll put the documents somewhere safe, somewhere where it’s unlikely Dean would find them. If he did, it’d be twenty, maybe thirty years from now.” He watches as the plans start to turn in Bobby’s mind. “I don’t suppose you’d know of anyone like that, now would you?”

  



End file.
